(MC POV)
Following her previous directions, I found the exit easily enough, walking towards the double doors without knowing what to expect.
Why didn't I take the Origin thing with me?
I couldn't even touch it without going into that 'omniscient' feeling and it's blatantly obvious that if I tried a lot of bad things might happen. Not to mention that burning sensation at the end probably meant I would disintegrate if I held it for too long.
With how little I understand of it, I figured it would be a better idea to leave it alone for now, lest I accidentally destroy the Universe.
Stepping past the door frame, I found the tentacled thing where she said it would be. The giant monster was suspended in the air with giant, black chains wrapped around its body.
Wait… Isn't this thing supposed to eat Origin? Is putting it so close to the source not inviting it to…
I turned back to realise the room I was in had disappeared, leaving nothing but an empty space there.
Huh… Neat.
"Come to gloat haven't you?" The thing growled.
I raised an eyebrow, "Oh? You can actually talk normally?"
"Not by choice. The Old One detests my kind after all. And for a good reason, heh heh…" It chuckled.
"You seem quite preppy for something on the chopping block."
"Nothing you do can be worse than what she has done to me so far. And I doubt anyone but her can make me cease existence right now."
"Oh really?"
I blasted its face with a bolt of Divine Lightning but it didn't even flinch.
It scoffed at me, "Limited in power I may be, I am still beyond your mortal limit to cause me any harm especially when I'm not constrained by your mortal Plane."
Hmm... This thing's speech pattern really differed a lot from before, I almost thought this one was an impostor but the arrogance definitely confirmed it's the same one.
Well, since it said mortal powers aren't strong enough… In that case…
I drew upon the power of Origin again, the familiar feeling filling up my body with power.
I tried to collapse the space where its face was only to realise that I could not control anything within a certain radius of it. It felt like there was some sort of nullifying field around it.
"Your pitiful control over Origin won't help you here either, fool. Though seeing how you struggle with it is definitely entertaining."
Pitiful control huh? No time like the present I suppose.
What did she say again? Become one of the stars instead or something like that?
Very well then.
Ignoring the ravings of that tentacled thing, I brought my consciousness back within me, finding myself in a familiar sea of stars.
Going by her reasoning, I should not be trying to draw more power from the stars but actually inhabit one of them instead? Or does she mean for myself to transform into one of them?
Damn it, that old lady and her stupidly cryptic words. I ought to give her a good spanking.
Concentrating on the brightest star I could find, I willed myself towards it until the star was right in front of me.
Instead of a giant burning ball of flames, the 'star' turned out to be a smaller, elliptical shaped egg similar to the source of Origin back inside the room I was in before. It's size was comparable to the volleyball that Elaria had made, maybe just slightly smaller.
Not knowing better on what should be done, I just simply reached my hand to touch it.
Surprisingly, I felt no resistance and my hand sunk directly into the light, the thing swallowing my arm up till the elbow.
I fully expected something to happen but other than my arm being inside it, nothing else occurred. Not even a flash of light, a sudden powerup or some disembodied voice in my head.
Intrigued, I pulled my arm out and put it back in, repeating the action a few more times to be sure.
Shrugging to myself, I decided to just walk into it and see if that changes anything.
Even when the light was shining inside my chest, I felt no different from before.
Damnit, why do things have to be so complicated? Don't these powers usually work like that?
Oh wait, maybe it's not me who goes to them but the stars have to come to me?
Well, it's worth a shot I guess.
I focused on my link with all the stars in the vicinity, exerting my will over them before commanding them to assemble on my position.
The stars blinked before they started converging on my position, slowly gaining speed until all of them were flashing towards me.
One of the stars reached me and unexpectedly merged with the first one, expanding in size.
Soon, more stars came and were absorbed into the mass of white light as well. The process repeating until every visible star around me was absorbed into one giant mass of white light four times my size.
I stared up at it for a while, wondering if I'm doing anything that may accidentally destroy the world.
The ball of light just sat there, pulsating slightly in tune to my heart beat.
Eventually, I figured that since I'm currently in another dimension anyway, I might as well just give it a shot.
I stuck out a finger and tried to prod the white mass.
This time, it actually feels tangible, like poking the surface of a liquid.
Since nothing else was happening with using a single finger, I took the leap of faith and jumped in.
I was thus unprepared for the feeling of my entire body burning up.
My eyes shot open to see my hands literally on fire, the flames consuming my limbs and disintegrating them instantly, leaving not even ashes behind.
Oddly, the initial burning sensation was gone but I'm low key panicking at the moment.
I tried to shake the fire off but it just burned faster, quickly consuming the entire length of my arm.
The tentacled monster noticed my predicament, "Oh? Did you try to conduit Origin through yourself? How foolish… The mortal body can't contain the required endurance to sustain it and would spontaneously combust if they even tried."
Oh great… So am I going to die again? Can't believe I'll die to another mistake of mine once more… Oh whatever, I will just use my soul anchor and reform back on the Earthen Plane.
I guess I should just make sure that… Wait a minute… The burnt off parts are reappearing?
Sure enough, my hands had reappeared at the last location they were before being burnt off and I could still feel them even though they were currently detached.
Before I could confirm the rest of my body, the fire had reached my head and my vision went black.
Even then, I could still feel the rest of my body moving around.
Another few seconds passed and my vision came back, my hearing returning a split second later with a loud pop to hear the tentacled thing growling in the background.
"... to shed. How mundane. But even so how many times would you need to do it before you return?"
Huh… So I was basically replacing my old flesh with new ones? Perhaps the Origin knew this body was insufficient and automatically granted me a new one?
Was this what the old lady was aiming for all this while?
Just when I thought about it, a few words appeared in the air.
"Have Fun~~"
As the words faded away, I turned back to the tentacled monster, my body now channeling the more concentrated Origin within myself.
Seems like this was enough to bypass its nullification field.
The monster only had time to utter a word of "wait" before I stretched my arms out and ripped a few of its tentacles off.
Hmmm… I suppose this works for me~~